Bernardini

[VOL JACK]

Originally Posted by Betsy

I'm still annoyed at the Sheikh retiring this horse before he'd had a chance to really prove himself, but yeah - he was a tremendous racehorse (though I still think Pulpit was Indy's most brilliant).

As to your last point, I suppose we can say that about any sire. This topic was brought up on another board, but lots of stallions got off to fine starts only to fizzle. I certainly have the highest hopes for Bernardini, so obviously I hope that he takes after his sire and not his dam. Indy is proving to be a very good sire of sires and even Mineshaft, who got off to a slow start as a sire, is doing well now.

I agree that Bernardini is imparting more speed to his offspring than Indy, but I'm not sure they are more suited to sprinting - it's not like he's imparting crazy speed (though I think Crossbow will end up being a sprinter/miler - he's very fast). It's just that they all seem to have tactical speed, which is certainly an advantage (though Indy hasn't done badly thus far, lol). So far this year, he's had some runners who have not run well, but he's also had some show very good promise (Crossbow, Cassini Flight, Heron Lake and Break up the Game - yes, I know the latter is still a maiden- and another maiden, a Pletcher filly named R Gypsy Gold). I guess we'll find out soon enough if his best offspring have trained on because Stay Thirsty (I know he's not well thought of here) is set to work this weekend (and his first race back will be in the Gotham), AZ Warrior will return in the Las Virgenes most likely and hopefully To Honor and Serve will make the FOY. Unfortunately we'll have to follow Biondetti (who is a particular favorite of mine) from afar. One thing Bernardini has over AP Indy is that his offspring (at least in Europ) have handled turf and synthetics.

I agree.
the tail wags the dog with the Sheiks.
They spent hundreds of millions trying to breed a colt like Bernardini.
Then they retired him as soon as possible..